Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Plum-pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Cut the bread into 1-inch square pieces.
Layer the bread in a pudding mold.
Add a layer of raisins, citron, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Repeat layers of bread and fruit/spices until the mold is full.
Make the custard
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and sugar to make a custard.
Pour the custard over the pudding.
Cook and serve
Boil for 6 hours.
Serve with sauce.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard and bind the bread and fruit together as the pudding cooks.
- Bread
- Soaks up the custard and forms the body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, moistening the bread as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard and the finished pudding.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Boil for 6 hours. Long, gentle cooking lets the egg custard set through the bread without curdling or drying out. Keeping the water at a steady simmer rather than a hard boil helps the pudding stay tender.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Applefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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